Victory! “No plans” for Fracking Study Monitoring

Tenders are not being issued

Our Stop the Study campaign has had an impact! Tenders for contractors to set up monitoring stations in Fermanagh, Leitrim and Clare and do air, water and ground monitoring for 12 months have not been issued. And this week we learned from Senator Paschal Mooney, who asked the question of the EPA, that “there are no plans to initiate this process at the moment”.

We are really delighted with this news. Basically it stops the Research Study in its tracks. The September progress report indicated that most of the desk research is “nearly complete” and what remains is the study of the local terrain and its suitability for fracking. Without such monitoring, the study can’t be finished and therefore is worthless.

However, the campaign is not over yet.

On 2nd December the EPA comes before the Joint Oireachtas Committee to answer questions arising from our findings concerning the study and its take-over by companies heavily involved in the oil and gas industry. Even since our Rally on 5th November, further findings have come to light regarding the tendering process for the entire study. Truly a can of worms! It is horrifying to discover that the industry were involved in the study process from the start. From the drafting of the terms of reference to the tendering and contract process, the industry had their grubby fingerprints all over it.

We will not let them get away with it! North and South, Ireland is showing that campaigning can and does work. Especially when combined with the multiple approaches we are using:

Research

Social media

Freedom of information requests

Political lobbying

Meetings

Rallies and demonstrations

Celebrity endorsements (Thank you, Mark Ruffalo!)

This takes hard and dedicated work but is a powerful combination that will not let the oil and gas industry desecrate this lovely land of ours.